Richard Spence, Ph.D.

College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences
Department of History
Professor

Home Town:
Taft, California
With UI Since 1986

Ph.D., History, 1981, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, Modern Europe, Middle East

M.A., History, 1976, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA

B.A., History, 1973, California State University, Bakersfield, CA

Research/Focus Areas

Russia

Eastern Europe

Middle East

Espionage

Holocaust

Occultism

Biography

Dr. Richard “Rick” Spence received his PhD in History from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1981. He has taught at the University of Idaho since 1986 where currently he is a tenured full Professor of History. He specializes in Russian, intelligence and military history, and his course offerings include Modern Espionage, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, History of Secret Societies and the Occult in History.

Dr. Spence’s published works include Boris Savinkov: Renegade on the Left (East European Monographs/Columbia Univ. Press, 1991), Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly (Feral House, 2002) and Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult (Feral House, 2008). He is also the author of numerous articles in Revolutionary Russia, Intelligence and National Security, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, The Historian, New Dawn and other publications. He has served as a commentator/consultant for the History Channel and the International Spy Museum and was a key consultant-interviewee for the Russian Cultural Foundation’s 2007 documentary film, “Leon Trotsky: The Secret of World Revolution,” and its subsequent “Trap for the Tsar.”

2012, “Searching for James Shelby Downard,” League of Western Fortean Intermediatists, April 2, http://forteanswest.com/lowfiguesteditorial-DrRichardBSpence0612.php

2012, “The Tsar’s Other Lieutenant: The Anti-Semitic Activities of Boris L’vovich Brasol, 1910-1960, Pt. I, Beilis, the Protocols and Henry Ford,” Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism, June 2012.

2011, “Why There? The Origins, Evolution and Historical Significance of the Gaza Strip,” in Thomas E. Copeland (ed.), Drawing a Line in the Sea: The 2010 Gaza Flotilla Incident and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Lexington Books, 2011).

2011, “Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust at the University of Idaho,” Genocide Prevention Now, #8 (Winter 2011). Online.

2010, “Perfidious Albion: An Introduction to the Secret History of the British Empire,” New Dawn, Special Issue #11 (2010), pp. 21-34.

Presenter, “Aleister Crowley, Sidney Reilly, Basil Zaharoff: Their Influence on the Creation of James Bond and His World,” 30th Annual Meeting of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association, February 2009, Albuquerque, NM.

“On the Trail of the Beast: Uncovering Aleister Crowley’s Intelligence Connections,” University of Idaho Interdisciplinary Colloquium presentation, September 2008.

Panelist, public forum on Middle East, University of Idaho, April 2008.